Death Guide
by Anonymous Hijink
Summary: Ichigo has been dead for over a century and has been working for the Spirit King ever since his death. He is a member of the guard and a guide of death, helping lost souls to find their destiny. Now it is time to return to the Soul Society.


**Well here you go, Chapter 1 of the second sequel to Poisoned,the first sequel is giving me a migrine trying to get everything working right , so you'll have to make do with viewing Ichigo's side of death.**

**I don't own Bleach, the Manga and Anime series is Tite Kubo and his translater's, the cleaning product belongs to someone who is not me.**

**Oh and you see that first paragraph below the chapte title? If you're intrested in having a go at drawing/sketching or whatevering it send me a PM to let me know and so I can answer any questions you have. Enjoy!**

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><p>[Angel 13th century. Via Old French and ecclesiastical Latin Greek<em> aggelos<em> "messenger"]

Guardian and guide: a spirit that protects and offers guidance

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><p><strong>Chapter 1 - Angels<strong>

A figure fell from the sky to land lightly on one of the many buildings rooves, his pure white wings stretching to there full span to either side of him. Rolling his neck and shoulders, the figure sighed heavily and flared his wings out behind him so that they were perfectly straight, laid out horizontally. The many subtle muscles and tendons straining pleasurably after the long flight, he welcomed the moment of stillness, as did his wings. An irritated sigh sounded within the figures mind and, with a roll of his caramel eyes, he folded his wings against his back, barely twitching as his brother dropped out of the sky far faster than he had previously to land on the very edge of the roof, his bare feet curled around the tiles much as a birds talons would curl around a thick branch. Lips quirking the first figure watched in a mild fascination as his brother flared his wings to there full span beside him. Where as his wings were pure white his brothers were a number of different shades, starting with black at the very top lines of feathers, fading slowly into a dark blue which in turn faded through to a pale sky blue, powder blue and finally settling on white just after reaching the centre row of feathers, a row of periwinkle laying just above the mass of white feathers. With a powerful flap of his blue and white wings, his brother folded them against his back with a heavy sigh.

Walking forward with little thought of balance, he knew that even if he did loose his balance and fall from the roof's edge he could spread his wings in an instant with barely a thought, his mind focussed solely on his brother. "Are you okay? You seem frustrated over something." He asked softly, a hand moving to rest against his brothers shoulders, slimmer than his own, though not by much.

His brother sighed heavily and turned slightly, fixing one golden eye on the slightly shorter figure, his face as blank as it had ever been. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just…I dunno, antsy I guess. I haven't had any missions to the realm of the living for over a decade, and none of my charges have called in over a week, the living or the dead."

"Ah." He stated, squeezing his brothers shoulder in understanding. It was never easy to be kept in their realm for prolonged times. The confinement was worse if it was someone who was used to being out doing something. He had it easier than his brother, having not left their realm since his arrival when he was nothing but a baby, he wouldn't have remembered even his own name had he not arrived in the realm with a note stating it, his brother had been almost seventeen when he had arrived in the realm, consequently remembering almost everything of his life before he had arrived, and had made frequent trips to both the Spirit and Living Realms since then.

The two stood in silence for a long while, enjoying the cool breeze on their bare chests and arms, they'd left their home wearing only jeans as they had intended to fly for a while and had no desire to shred any of their shirts, as neither was exactly proficient enough to mend shirts that were missing backs. The younger sighed and tilted his head back to stare up at the darkening skies. "It seems incomplete somehow." He whispered.

At his brothers questioning grunt, the younger explained. "Even though it's always just been us something always seems to be missing and I can never figure out what it is."

His brother chuckled and reached out a heavily calloused hand, from over a century of wielding a sword, to ruffle his black hair affectionately. "It's called parents, kid. No family is ever complete without them." There was a sad note to the elder mans voice, and the younger knew not to push the issue further.

He glanced up at his brother with a faint scowl as he tried futilely to straighten out his perpetually messy hair, something he and his brother both had inherited from their father he'd been told. His brother laughed at his attempts, which only made him scowl harder, in turn making his brother laugh hard enough it was a wonder he could maintain his grip on the roof's edge so precariously perched he was in the first place. The younger contemplated for a moment the idea of pushing the larger male off the roof, but decided against it, he'd just get drawn over along with him if he tried, his footing was weaker than his brother's despite being on a flat surface, and his brother was more heavily muscled for all his lean stature. Contenting himself with an aggravated huff the younger brother shook his head. "I'll never understand you old people." He grumbled.

His comment earned him a soft glare from his brother. "I'm not that old you know." He complained.

The younger raised an eyebrow challengingly, pointing at the white streaks in his brothers hair.

Slipping his hand through his messy orange hair, his fingers unerringly following one of the many white streaks that the younger brother had pointed out, his other hand slipping into the pocket of his jeans, it was a sign of discomfort that the younger brother had picked up on close to two decades ago. "They're not from age, Taka." He said eventually, his tone indicating that he would say no more on the subject at the time.

The younger brother sighed with a shrug, his wings rising with his shoulder blades. "Can't blame me for trying." He stated.

"Guess not." His brother agreed, a slightly evil smirk crawling across his lips. "This time. Next time you wont get off so easily, Takashi."

Takashi gulped at not only his brothers tone but also the fact that he'd used his full name, it never meant anything good coming from any of his close friends.

The tense atmosphere dispersed a moment later as the older brother laughed in his carefree manner. "C'mon Taka, we should head back now." He stated, gesturing up at the star filled sky.

Taka nodded, a large smile lighting up his face as he moved back several paces to unfold his wings without hitting his brother or being hit in return by his brothers larger wings. The two lifted into the sky with powerful strokes of their wings, the older waiting a few moment once he'd lifted to a satisfactory height to wait for his brother to lift to the same altitude, keeping place with careful short beats of his wings as Taka rose slowly up to his height.

"Ugh." Taka groaned in annoyance when he was hovering a ways beside his brother, being careful about the distance between them in order to avoid a painful collision of wings knowing from experience that his brothers were far stronger than his and any type of contact between two pairs of wings would leave the weaker severely damaged.

His brother looked at him with sympathy. "You don't put enough force behind your initial wing beat." The older stated as they began moving swiftly through the skies.

'_Can you teach me how to do it properly?'_ Taka asked his brother telepathically, knowing that his voice would simply be lost to the wind that was being left behind by the two.

The older hummed mentally for a moment before nodding to himself. _'I don't see why not. There isn't all that much to do at the division asides from the paperwork, and that isn't all that important unless someone comes upon a soul that they need to help.'_

A bright smile light up Taka's face at his brother's agreeing to help him learn how to efficiently take off with his wings.

The older very quickly hid a smile of his own, happy that his brother had accepted his help for once. Taka had always been as independent as he could be, the older always thought, if only to himself, that Taka had to much of their father in him, though he refused to move out of his brother's house, stating that if he did, then the older brother would likely do something stupid. As soon as he was old enough to cook his own meals, Taka had began to do so, only accepting the vaguest inputs on what to put with what and what to avoid putting together that his brother offered, and even then it was only after he'd tried to eat something that wouldn't have been digestible by even the older brother's friend that he'd taken the advice.

Golden eyes closed contentedly as the older brother felt the wind rushing through his hair, which he'd let grow out some since he'd arrived in The Realm, brushing against the base of his neck and hiding his ears and eyebrows. He relished the way the wind blew back the long strands when he flew. He let his eyes flutter open again as Taka gave him a mental nudge, alerting him that they were nearing their home. His wings flared, slowing his rapid flight, as he allowed Taka to land in the wide street first, once the younger man had retracted his pure white wings and moved into the house the older rocketed down towards the ground landing easily with a sharp beat of his wings, retracting the appendages until they sunk back into his skin in the same movement, he followed his brother into the house and headed up to his bedroom on the second floor, where he changed into a pair of pajama pants and promptly fell into a deep sleep.

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><p><em>He was in pain. Every muscle aching and he was having trouble drawing oxygen into his lunges. The pain made him wish he were still alive, laying<em>_ in his bed with the poison spreading through his body, feeling as his life left his body. He would have chuckled then if he had the oxygen to do so. His painful last month as a member of the Living Realm were indeed preferable to this soul shredding pain that was consuming his entire being, or what was left of it anyway. The thought was a rather morbid one but he welcomed the amusement that the thought brought to his mind, the only thing that had escaped the poisons effects._

_He wasn't sure how long it was that he was there, pained and silent, before a figure appeared before him. Tall and imposing wearing regal robes, dark hair floating around the figures head and dark red eyes, looking to be almost the colour of fresh blood frozen into small jewels, there was a gentleness about the figure though that made him trust this regal and imposing form. The figure merely observed for a time, head cocked curiously to the side as though he were a young child looking at a new toy, not quite sure what to make of it. Usually that sort of behaviour would have made him feel uncomfortable and wary, but he just couldn't seem to work up the energy to be uncomfortable and the figure's mere presence was making him relax anyway._

_Finally, after what could have been hours or minutes or years or centuries, the figure opened their mouth and spoke in a deep voice. "You seem awfully young to be entering my Realm, Child. Why are you leaving the lower plains already?" He, for the figure was defiantly male, asked the question with almost as much curiosity as he'd looked at him only a moment ago._

_Finding that he had the oxygen and finding the strength to speak he did so. "I am, or was I suppose, a Soul Reaper, at least I was part Soul Reaper. There are others like me to a degree, called Vizard, Soul Reaper's who had Hollows implanted within their souls." He shook his head then, a fond smile pulling at tired lips at the memory of his kin. "But I was always different to them, the Soul Reapers also. My Hollow had formed naturally while I was recovering the powers that a Soul Reaper, Byakuya Kuchiki, had taken from me. I suppose that's really neither here nor there now." At the quizzical expression from his companion he gave a humourless chuckle. "I'm dead. And I'm starting to wish I was back in the Living Realm, coughing up blood every other day. This pain and emptiness is hardly an improvement. And it's so quiet."_

_The figure laughed at his final remark. "Most of the people I meet welcome that same silence that you seem to dislike."_

_A short bark of laughter escaped his drying throat. "It's not the silence that bothers me. It's the emptiness of the silence." His companion raised an eyebrow at that, prompting him to continue. "Ever since I regained my powers it's been quiet in my mind, but I could always feel my Zanpakuto spirits presence. Now, there's nothing. Just empty silence."_

_The man made a sound of understanding in the back of his throat and the two were silent again for a time, the younger of them fidgeting every so often. The older spoke again after a time. "Do you know what is happening to you, Child?"_

_Blinking faintly he answered the older man in a quiet hesitant voice, like he was a young boy again being asked to explain why he was walking along the river banks after his mother had died. "My soul is erasing itself from existence." The other nodded sadly and they once again stood in silence._

_The older, regal man nodded faintly to himself after a time, one that could have been mere moments or a full revolution around the sun. "I would like to offer you an alternative to vanishing."_

_He lifted his head from where he had been staring at his bare feet, his Amber eyes locking with blood red, a faint look of hope and curiosity lining his features. "Let's hear it hen, Old Timer." He stated, not caring if he sounded rude._

_Apparently the older didn't mind much either, as he only quirked his lips faintly in amusement and continued speaking. "My Realm is always in need of competent fighters, my guard is forever in need of more soldiers and researchers, there is always a threat to The Realm or those under my protection. I'm offering you a place in my guard, Child, do you accept the position, or do you choose to fade?"_

_He contemplated the offer for a moment before nodding confidently. "I will on one condition." The King, as he now knew him to be, rose both his eyebrows at that. "No research."_

_The King laughed heartily and held out his hand for the younger man to take, leading the newest member of the guard towards the realm that was now his home. "Tell me your name Child." The King requested gently as they stepped onto a grass covered field._

"_It's Ichigo, Ichigo Kurosaki." He stated with a hint of pride in his voice, knowing that his father had been known of by the realm as he'd been offered a position in the guard._

_The Kings reaction was rather humorous to the teenager, with the way his red eyes widened and his jaw dropped open in his shock. Ichigo had to laugh then, glad to be again even if it was only in death. He'd always been more comfortable with the dead than the living, it was one reason he'd been so accepting of the inevitable fact that he'd die._

_A faint stirring told him that his Zanpakuto was waking. Closing his eyes and ignoring the shocked King, Ichigo looked into his inner world. Zangetsu was slowly shifting himself to sit, his back leaning heavily against the side of a sideways skyscraper. Fuyumei was slowly pushing herself unsteadily to her feet, looking around with dull blue eyes. Aojiroi was still out of it but his breathing was even a deep so Ichigo decided that he would be fine until he could get in there himself._

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><p>Ichigo blinked his eyes open at the sound of a sharp rapping against his window. Rolling over with a groan, he saw a raven perched calmly on his windowsill, waiting silently for the hybrid to relieve it of it's burden. He grumbled quietly as he took the message from the bird, which promptly flew off into the coming dawn, before closing the window and heading for the bathroom attached to his bedroom, needing the warm spray of water to wake him up before he read over the message that he'd received.<p>

He could hear his brother yawning as he moved around his own room down the hall and couldn't help but chuckle at the shuffling sound of his brothers bare feet on carpet.

Ten minutes later and Ichigo felt awake enough to read the message that the raven had delivered. Stepping back into his bedroom dressed in casual slacks and a forest green button up shirt, Ichigo peeled open the letters envelope and read over the short message within.

**Ichigo Kurosaki, division seven captain,**

**Your expertise is required for a mission outside of the realm. You will be leading a small group in investigating the recent strange occurrences involving Hell. The Seireitei is also conducting an investigation into the matter, your group will join up with them in order to discover what is happening and why.**

**Your group will meet you by the main portal at dawn, I expect you to be on time regardless of the time you receive this message.**

**Your squad members for this mission are:**

**Kaien Shiba**

**Kaen Hikatsu**

**Satoshi Hikari**

**Kirio Hikifune**

**Takashi Kurosaki**

**Kiseki Fuuma**

**Kisari Iwa**

**I wish you all good luck and pleasant travel.**

**Sentaro Hiroshima, King of The Realm.**

A short snort of laughter left Ichigo as he folded the note and slipped it into his pocket with a brief glance out the window. He drew the rucksack that he kept for long term missions from his closet and packed a couple of Shihakusho and formal kimono into the bag first, he preferred not to wear his shihakusho on a day-to-day basis but was required to have them for such occasions, he made sure to leave one of them out to dress in before he left before continuing to pack, several shirts of varying designs, all in forest green, jeans and slacks were placed on top of his traditional clothing before he tied the bag clothed.

With a heavy sigh Ichigo slipped out of his slacks and shirt and with practiced efficiency he slipped into his shihakusho's many layers, the forest green obi was tied tightly around his waist and his sealed Zanpakuto slipped into the obi, his forest green haori was slipped on as he walked out of his room.

As his feet touched the ground floor he found Taka waiting with a similar bag slung over his shoulder dressed in a shihakkusho tied together with an ultramarine blue obi. Exchanging nods the two slipped into flash steps heading towards the main portal, the easy and familiar movement left Ichigo able to think clearly without worry of slipping.

The divisions of the Guard were distinguished by the colour of their obi or haori. The First Division was White, the Second Violet, the Third was Cinnamon, the Fourth Periwinkle, Fifth Crimson, Sixth Turquoise, Seventh Forest Green, Eight Grey, Ninth Teal, Tenth Silver and Eleventh Orange. The research divisions all wore the same obi and haori, in Ultramarine, their haori were numbered unlike the rest of the divisions to help distinguish the research captains from each other.

The feel of other spiritual energies alerted Ichigo to their nearing the portal that would send them to the Spirit Realm.

The first person that came into view was a few years older in appearance than Ichigo, who appeared to be in his early twenties now, with black hair that was as messy as Taka's but slightly longer with dark blue eyes and a perpetual smile, wearing the Teal haori of the Ninth. "Yo! Archangel! Taka!" Kaien Shiba called in greeting to them as he fell into step beside the two Kurosaki's.

"I told you to stop calling my that, Kaien." Ichigo grumbled, lightly tapping his brother upside the head as the younger man chuckled at the nickname that most of the Guard had taken to useing in reference to the Seventh captain, his division members had actually taken to calling him Captain Archangel, or Captain God Slayer depending on how much they knew of the Winter War.

Kaien smirked at his friend and winked mischievously. "That wouldn't be anywhere near as fun Ichigo." He received a mild glare in response.

Kaen and Kisari joined them soon after, Kaen's uniform adorned with a Turquoise obi and the lt.'s badge of the Sixth, while Kisari had a Grey obi tied around her waist. Both greeted the three warmly, if somewhat teasingly. "Captain Shiba, Taka, High Lord Kurosaki."

Taka and Kaien laughed at Ichigo's twitching eyebrow, earning them both a wack upside the head. "Kisari, Kaen, how many times do I have to tell you, it's Ichigo." He stated, reminiscent of the way Toshiro would always tell him to call him 'Captain Hitsugaya' as oppose to 'Toshiro'.

All of his companions said the last in perfect unison with the man himself, earning a nasty glare for their efforts. The four laughed the rest of the way to the portal where Satoshi, Kirio and Kiseki were waiting. The three lifted their eyebrows at the laughter of the Ninth Captain, researcher, member of the Eighth and lt. of the Sixth.

Satoshi had the White obi of the First, Kirio one of the four Ultramarine haori of the research divisions and Kiseki a Forest Green sash. Three sets of eye rolls and a solid wack around the head to each of the laughing guards members later and the team was stepping through the portal, the guards on duty used to the antics of the group of friends, with a threat of Seventh Division training regimes hanging over their heads, or in Kiseki's case, as she was a member of the Seventh and therefore used to the strict training regime, personal training with her captain, a pleasant prospect indeed. Not.

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><p><strong>So there you have it. Ichigo is now a resident of the Royal Realm. Next xhap focuses on the Soul Reaper's perspective.<strong>

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**Anonymous Hijink, Out.**


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